chlamor
12-18-2007, 09:51 PM
Doug Cornett - Mining Media Campaigns in Romania and Michigan Strikingly Similar
November 30, 2007
This essay focuses on the Wide Angle documentary “Gold Futures,” broadcast in August 2007 on PBS. As I first watched the film, I was intrigued with the many similarities to the mining situation we face in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Here, Kennecott Minerals is trying to get the first metallic sulfide mining permit under the state’s new mining law, and put a mine under the Salmon-Trout River. Not that far behind is Aquila Resources, who want to open a mine just a stone’s throw from the Menominee River, on our border to the south with Wisconsin. Other mining prospects abound, and the rush is on to find precious metals in the north woods.
Both companies in Michigan have spent tremendous sums on public relations firms to spin the benefits of their proposed mines. In Romania, mining interests have engaged in an all out media war with grassroots opponents.
With a long history of mining disasters, persistent pollution, community upheaval, and human rights abuses, mining interests have had to put together elaborate public relation plans to try to sell their wares. Still familiar with mining’s sordid past, citizens and community leaders are now demanding greater accountability and raising serious concerns about how mining companies operate and what they will leave behind. Citizens want the right to forge the destiny of their own communities. At the same time, our government works (often hand-in-hand with corporations) to thwart local control and diminish power of individuals and communities.
Rosia Montana is the oldest town in Romania. Nestled in remote hills of Transylvania, most of this 2500 year old settlement will be raised and the earth beneath it strip mined, if a Canadian corporation, Gabriel Resources, gets its way. Corna, the neighboring valley, will be inundated with tailings ponds, and the by-products of cyanide leaching. Here, 800 houses will be torn down, and hundreds of subsistence farmers displaced. Over 300 Corna farmers oppose resettlement and won’t move from their land.
http://www.northwoodswild.org/newspro/images/House.jpg
House in Rosia Montana photo courtesy Alburnus Maior
The massive mine project entails the destruction of mountains, churches, cemeteries, and farms, and a unique cultural patrimony. Locals refusing to relocate have been threatened with forced eviction.
http://www.northwoodswild.org/newspro/images/Mausoleum.jpg
This Roman Mausoleum is Over 2000 Years Old photo courtesy Alburnus Maior
Rosia Montana Gold Corporation is a joint venture between Gabriel and the Romanian government, who holds a 20% interest in the project. Nineteen per cent of Gabriel stock is owned by Newmont Mining. Reserves are calculated to be 10.1 million ounces of gold and 47.6 million ounces of silver.
The founder of Gabriel Resources and the Romanian gold scheme is Vasile Frank Timis, who fled Romania as a teenager during the Ceausescu regime. Timis ended up in Australia where he became involved in many checkered business schemes. He first started gold mining ventures in 1992. Timis had 3 of his businesses dissolved by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) for not being compliant of ASIC standards. In 1995, he founded Gabriel Resources NL Australia, and fell into more financial trouble in 1996. Before Gabriel NL was dissolved, Timis sold a mining contract with Autonomous Copper Regime Deva in Transylvania, to Gabriel Resources Ltd., which he registered in Jersey/ Channel Islands, known for its lax business rules. This was how the Rosia Montana mining project was born. Gabriel Resources Ltd. began actively pursuing the Rosia Montana mine in 1997.
Rosia Montana Gold Corporation has assembled a strong board of directors and officers to attract investment in the mine, and sway political opinion. Current directors have extensive backgrounds as executives in mining companies and financial institutions. Director Raphael Girard, a public policy and international business consultant, is a former Canadian Ambassador to Romania.
Gold Corporation began buying out residents in 2002. By 2007, two-thirds of Rosia Montana had been bought. Essential services became rare locally as the mining company puts the squeeze on remaining resisters. However, twenty-five hundred years of settlement has formed deep attachment to this land. Resistance to the mine and re-settlement is fierce. An environmental group, Alburnus Maior, formed by local residents in 2000, spearheads the resistance.
The company claims there will be 1200 employed in mine construction and 600 mining jobs lasting 17 years. Gold Corporation also claims 6,000 “indirect” jobs will be created by the mining activity and the services it will demand. By their calculations, $2.5 billion US, will go into the community during the life of the project. The mining company is also exploring a number of nearby deposits and will open other mines here, if the Rosia Montana mine goes as planned.
“One of the few mines where we can improve the environment,” is a claim the mining company makes loudly, in reference to acid mine drainage (they erroneously call it acid rock drainage) it claims currently plagues the area from almost 2 millennia of smaller-scale mining. They promise their mine will work to clean up the area’s water pollution. Their web site lays out a slick public relations campaign outlining the benefits they say they will bring to the region.
At full production, the mine will dig up 500,000 tons of rock per week and use between 13-15 million kilograms of cyanide per year. The tailings pond will be 1500 acres in extent and its dam over 500 feet high.
Water pollution by Gold Corporation’s mine is still what worries locals most. The collapse of a tailings dam at a gold mine in northern Romania's Baia Mare in January 2000, and images of fish, birds and mammals poisoned in the Tizsa River, is firmly engrained in almost everyone’s mind here. Gabriel says old mining practices used at Baia Mare were at fault, and that their mine will utilize modern technology and sound construction.
Stephanie Roth, a former editor of The Ecologist, moved to Rosia Montana and since 2002 has been the driving force behind an international campaign to stop the mine. She became a winner of the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize in 2005 for her efforts. She calls Gabriel’s planning “cosmetic cover-up” and accuses the company of “lying by omission.”
To counter PBS’s “Gold Futures,” Gabriel Resources have financed its own film, “Mine Your Own Business.” Phelim Mcaleer, the filmmaker calls his film the “first hard look at the environmental movement.” Released in the US at the same time of the PBS showing of “Gold Futures,” “Mine Your Own Business” has been getting much praise in the conservative press. Gabriel Resources frames the Rosia Montana mining issue as rich western environmentalists versus the Romanian poor, in their press release of the movie “Environmentalists are new foes of some of the world’s poorest.”
The Wall Street Journal wasted no time in jumping on board with mining corporations in their opinion piece “Make Up your Own Mine.” The op-ed spends all its time slamming the PBS documentary and praising the corporate-funded film. There is also a lot of time spent denouncing the Soros Foundation who has taken interest in funding environmental efforts at Rosia Montana and opened an office in Romania.
The European Union, World Bank, UNESCO, Romanian Academy and others have taken notice of the controversy and are paying attention to opposition claims of environmental and cultural destruction and degradation.
In 2002, the International Finance Corporation (part of World Bank Group) turned down Gabriel’s financing application due to "significant environmental and social issues connected with the project." In 2003, the country's highest scientific body, the Romanian Academy, stated its opposition and re-affirmed in 2006, after finding the mine would not bring sustainable development or solve the area’s social and economic problems, and would have negative effects on the environment.
The archaeological consultant of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has passed several resolutions warning against the destruction of Rosia Montana’s unique archaeological treasures dating from Roman and pre-Roman times. The Orthodox Church, Romania’s largest, owns cemeteries, forest, arable land and historic monuments at Rosia Montana and refuses to sell its properties.
http://www.northwoodswild.org/newspro/images/Deface.jpg
Destructive Mineral Sampling by Gold Corporation in Roman Gallery of Orlea
A poll conducted by Romania's 'Ziua' daily newspaper in 2004 showed that 92% of its readers oppose Gabriel's project. Widespread public opinion is that this development embodies the worst corruption of the Romanian political class.
In 2004, the European Parliament adopted a resolution expressing “its deep concern about the long transitional periods agreed regarding the environment chapter, particularly regarding the Rosia Montana mine development, which poses a serious environmental threat to the whole region” and states it will carefully monitor the project, both in terms of its conformity to EU environmental law and also how it relates to Romania's 2007 accession to the EU.
In February, 2007 two Senators initiated a bill to ban cyanide use in Romanian mining. The proposal is actively supported by Romania's civil society and several parties within the Romanian Parliament officially expressed their support for the law.
This summer, during a televised debate on the Rosia Montana mine, the Romanian Government, for the first time, admitted that the mining plan is not in the public interest, and as such, no expropriation can take place. In addition, the Romanian Government re-enforced its position in support of the law proposal to ban cyanide. Regarding jobs and economic impact it said “we have to say very clearly: if we start to close the existing mines and rehabilitate the affected areas then this will create many jobs in Romania and the Government supports this approach.”
The President of the Parliament’s Chamber of Deputies, Mr. Bogdan Olteanu, expressed his party's (Liberal Party) deep concern on the mine proposal at Rosia Montana and the opportunity for alternatives including service industry tourism and the development of the national patrimony.
Still, the mine proposal remains alive despite the fact that the licensing procedure for the project has been stopped for an unlimited period by the Ministry for the Environment and Sustainable Development. The Romanian Court has ruled that “urbanistic certificate” presented by the project owner, is null. Attila Korodi, Romania’s minister for the Environment, expects the ministry to be taken to court by the mining company.
November 30, 2007
This essay focuses on the Wide Angle documentary “Gold Futures,” broadcast in August 2007 on PBS. As I first watched the film, I was intrigued with the many similarities to the mining situation we face in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Here, Kennecott Minerals is trying to get the first metallic sulfide mining permit under the state’s new mining law, and put a mine under the Salmon-Trout River. Not that far behind is Aquila Resources, who want to open a mine just a stone’s throw from the Menominee River, on our border to the south with Wisconsin. Other mining prospects abound, and the rush is on to find precious metals in the north woods.
Both companies in Michigan have spent tremendous sums on public relations firms to spin the benefits of their proposed mines. In Romania, mining interests have engaged in an all out media war with grassroots opponents.
With a long history of mining disasters, persistent pollution, community upheaval, and human rights abuses, mining interests have had to put together elaborate public relation plans to try to sell their wares. Still familiar with mining’s sordid past, citizens and community leaders are now demanding greater accountability and raising serious concerns about how mining companies operate and what they will leave behind. Citizens want the right to forge the destiny of their own communities. At the same time, our government works (often hand-in-hand with corporations) to thwart local control and diminish power of individuals and communities.
Rosia Montana is the oldest town in Romania. Nestled in remote hills of Transylvania, most of this 2500 year old settlement will be raised and the earth beneath it strip mined, if a Canadian corporation, Gabriel Resources, gets its way. Corna, the neighboring valley, will be inundated with tailings ponds, and the by-products of cyanide leaching. Here, 800 houses will be torn down, and hundreds of subsistence farmers displaced. Over 300 Corna farmers oppose resettlement and won’t move from their land.
http://www.northwoodswild.org/newspro/images/House.jpg
House in Rosia Montana photo courtesy Alburnus Maior
The massive mine project entails the destruction of mountains, churches, cemeteries, and farms, and a unique cultural patrimony. Locals refusing to relocate have been threatened with forced eviction.
http://www.northwoodswild.org/newspro/images/Mausoleum.jpg
This Roman Mausoleum is Over 2000 Years Old photo courtesy Alburnus Maior
Rosia Montana Gold Corporation is a joint venture between Gabriel and the Romanian government, who holds a 20% interest in the project. Nineteen per cent of Gabriel stock is owned by Newmont Mining. Reserves are calculated to be 10.1 million ounces of gold and 47.6 million ounces of silver.
The founder of Gabriel Resources and the Romanian gold scheme is Vasile Frank Timis, who fled Romania as a teenager during the Ceausescu regime. Timis ended up in Australia where he became involved in many checkered business schemes. He first started gold mining ventures in 1992. Timis had 3 of his businesses dissolved by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) for not being compliant of ASIC standards. In 1995, he founded Gabriel Resources NL Australia, and fell into more financial trouble in 1996. Before Gabriel NL was dissolved, Timis sold a mining contract with Autonomous Copper Regime Deva in Transylvania, to Gabriel Resources Ltd., which he registered in Jersey/ Channel Islands, known for its lax business rules. This was how the Rosia Montana mining project was born. Gabriel Resources Ltd. began actively pursuing the Rosia Montana mine in 1997.
Rosia Montana Gold Corporation has assembled a strong board of directors and officers to attract investment in the mine, and sway political opinion. Current directors have extensive backgrounds as executives in mining companies and financial institutions. Director Raphael Girard, a public policy and international business consultant, is a former Canadian Ambassador to Romania.
Gold Corporation began buying out residents in 2002. By 2007, two-thirds of Rosia Montana had been bought. Essential services became rare locally as the mining company puts the squeeze on remaining resisters. However, twenty-five hundred years of settlement has formed deep attachment to this land. Resistance to the mine and re-settlement is fierce. An environmental group, Alburnus Maior, formed by local residents in 2000, spearheads the resistance.
The company claims there will be 1200 employed in mine construction and 600 mining jobs lasting 17 years. Gold Corporation also claims 6,000 “indirect” jobs will be created by the mining activity and the services it will demand. By their calculations, $2.5 billion US, will go into the community during the life of the project. The mining company is also exploring a number of nearby deposits and will open other mines here, if the Rosia Montana mine goes as planned.
“One of the few mines where we can improve the environment,” is a claim the mining company makes loudly, in reference to acid mine drainage (they erroneously call it acid rock drainage) it claims currently plagues the area from almost 2 millennia of smaller-scale mining. They promise their mine will work to clean up the area’s water pollution. Their web site lays out a slick public relations campaign outlining the benefits they say they will bring to the region.
At full production, the mine will dig up 500,000 tons of rock per week and use between 13-15 million kilograms of cyanide per year. The tailings pond will be 1500 acres in extent and its dam over 500 feet high.
Water pollution by Gold Corporation’s mine is still what worries locals most. The collapse of a tailings dam at a gold mine in northern Romania's Baia Mare in January 2000, and images of fish, birds and mammals poisoned in the Tizsa River, is firmly engrained in almost everyone’s mind here. Gabriel says old mining practices used at Baia Mare were at fault, and that their mine will utilize modern technology and sound construction.
Stephanie Roth, a former editor of The Ecologist, moved to Rosia Montana and since 2002 has been the driving force behind an international campaign to stop the mine. She became a winner of the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize in 2005 for her efforts. She calls Gabriel’s planning “cosmetic cover-up” and accuses the company of “lying by omission.”
To counter PBS’s “Gold Futures,” Gabriel Resources have financed its own film, “Mine Your Own Business.” Phelim Mcaleer, the filmmaker calls his film the “first hard look at the environmental movement.” Released in the US at the same time of the PBS showing of “Gold Futures,” “Mine Your Own Business” has been getting much praise in the conservative press. Gabriel Resources frames the Rosia Montana mining issue as rich western environmentalists versus the Romanian poor, in their press release of the movie “Environmentalists are new foes of some of the world’s poorest.”
The Wall Street Journal wasted no time in jumping on board with mining corporations in their opinion piece “Make Up your Own Mine.” The op-ed spends all its time slamming the PBS documentary and praising the corporate-funded film. There is also a lot of time spent denouncing the Soros Foundation who has taken interest in funding environmental efforts at Rosia Montana and opened an office in Romania.
The European Union, World Bank, UNESCO, Romanian Academy and others have taken notice of the controversy and are paying attention to opposition claims of environmental and cultural destruction and degradation.
In 2002, the International Finance Corporation (part of World Bank Group) turned down Gabriel’s financing application due to "significant environmental and social issues connected with the project." In 2003, the country's highest scientific body, the Romanian Academy, stated its opposition and re-affirmed in 2006, after finding the mine would not bring sustainable development or solve the area’s social and economic problems, and would have negative effects on the environment.
The archaeological consultant of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has passed several resolutions warning against the destruction of Rosia Montana’s unique archaeological treasures dating from Roman and pre-Roman times. The Orthodox Church, Romania’s largest, owns cemeteries, forest, arable land and historic monuments at Rosia Montana and refuses to sell its properties.
http://www.northwoodswild.org/newspro/images/Deface.jpg
Destructive Mineral Sampling by Gold Corporation in Roman Gallery of Orlea
A poll conducted by Romania's 'Ziua' daily newspaper in 2004 showed that 92% of its readers oppose Gabriel's project. Widespread public opinion is that this development embodies the worst corruption of the Romanian political class.
In 2004, the European Parliament adopted a resolution expressing “its deep concern about the long transitional periods agreed regarding the environment chapter, particularly regarding the Rosia Montana mine development, which poses a serious environmental threat to the whole region” and states it will carefully monitor the project, both in terms of its conformity to EU environmental law and also how it relates to Romania's 2007 accession to the EU.
In February, 2007 two Senators initiated a bill to ban cyanide use in Romanian mining. The proposal is actively supported by Romania's civil society and several parties within the Romanian Parliament officially expressed their support for the law.
This summer, during a televised debate on the Rosia Montana mine, the Romanian Government, for the first time, admitted that the mining plan is not in the public interest, and as such, no expropriation can take place. In addition, the Romanian Government re-enforced its position in support of the law proposal to ban cyanide. Regarding jobs and economic impact it said “we have to say very clearly: if we start to close the existing mines and rehabilitate the affected areas then this will create many jobs in Romania and the Government supports this approach.”
The President of the Parliament’s Chamber of Deputies, Mr. Bogdan Olteanu, expressed his party's (Liberal Party) deep concern on the mine proposal at Rosia Montana and the opportunity for alternatives including service industry tourism and the development of the national patrimony.
Still, the mine proposal remains alive despite the fact that the licensing procedure for the project has been stopped for an unlimited period by the Ministry for the Environment and Sustainable Development. The Romanian Court has ruled that “urbanistic certificate” presented by the project owner, is null. Attila Korodi, Romania’s minister for the Environment, expects the ministry to be taken to court by the mining company.